Erasing 13-point deficit adds to win streak
James Harden took Chris Paul’s pass at the 3-point line, paused for just a moment as if to let the Toyota Center crowd hold its breath, or perhaps even start the MVP chant it brought back for Harden’s free throws, before he slammed the door Monday night.
Moments earlier, Harden had forced the Pelicans’ DeMarcus Cousins into an airball and then nailed a 3-pointer over him. When he followed that with another 3, shouting to the rafters as if trying to be heard over the roars, the Rockets had escaped the waves of
New Orleans scoring in a second consecutive stunning turnaround win.
As much as the Pelicans lit up the Toyota Center scoreboard, that’s sort of the Rockets’ thing. If Paul did advertising for a different insurance company, they might even say, it’s what they do. So after trailing by as much as 13 a game after they were behind by 14, the Rockets stormed past the Pelicans 130-123,
pushing their winning streak to 10 games.
“They were shooting the ball so well that it was hard to leave them any kind of daylight whatsoever,” Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni said. “The first half, they put it on us and you know, we’re up two. So, it says a lot about our offense. We can score. But you know we don’t want to make a habit of that. The biggest thing is not to get comfortable with that.”
Yet as much as the Rockets had to score, with Harden and Paul combining for 28 points in the final 14 minutes, the game changed when they again went to their small lineup and jolted their defense back to life.
Rockets center Clint Capela would finish with a career-high 28 and matched his career high with five blocked shots. The only other player since 1983-84 to score 28 points with five blocked shots while playing less than 24 minutes was Arvydas Sabonis in 2001. But the Pelicans were scoring so well, they were pulling away when the Rockets again went without a center.
Tucker changes tone
The Pelicans, who took a double-digit lead like the Trail Blazers on Saturday night, hit a franchiserecord 18 3-pointers and led 101-88 when D’Antoni again called on his small lineup with P.J. Tucker at center.
As in the comeback in Portland, the Rockets’ defense began scrambling. Paul and then Harden began scoring in bunches. Even when Cousins returned, D’Antoni stayed in the “Tuckwagon” lineup, double-teaming and forcing the Rockets into the energy they had lacked.
“When he put that lineup in, we looked at each other like, ‘OK, let’s do what we do,’ ” Tucker said. “‘Let’s change the game. Let’s do something special.’ We do it every time. It’s unbelievable how the talk goes up, how we’re together. Unbelievable.”
The Rockets outscored the Pelicans by 21 points in Tucker’s 22½ minutes on the floor. Though Cousins passed well out of the double teams, he made just 1 of 5 in the fourth quarter. When Capela returned, he repeatedly beat Cousins for dunk after dunk, most on passes from Harden.
Once Harden found his 3-point touch as well, he finished off the comeback. A game after he scored 15 points in the final nine minutes, he had 12 after he returned to the game with seven minutes left on Monday. With 26 points, 17 assists (to match his career high) and six steals, he was the first player to collect those numbers in a game since Michael Jordan and John Stockton in 1989.
“What Chris Paul did to bring us back to seven points was incredible,” D’Antoni said. “But then, you know, at the end, (Harden) just puts daggers in people.”
Stingy in fourth again
That finished off a second consecutive seven-point win that the Rockets seemed to enjoy every bit as much as the blowouts. After allowing 19 points in the fourth quarter on Saturday, they gave up 20 in the fourth on Monday, happy to have again found a way, even if another team had flourished the Rockets’ way long enough to give them a test.
“They were making tough shots,” Harden said. “They were playing faster than us. I don’t know if it was us coming off that road trip. We kind of buckled down, got some stops, pushed the ball, made some shots. Games are going to be like this. It isn’t always going to be perfect. As long as we figure ways to win games, that’s all that matters.”